Overwintering microhabitat selection by an Endoparasitoid (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae): Induced phototactic and thigmokinetic responses in dying hosts

Brodeur, Jacques; McNeil, Jeremy N.

doi:10.1007/bf01065963

Cited by 28 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…1). The ability of parasites to alter the behavior of their hosts is now well accepted (Holmes and Bethel 1972, Stamp 1981, Moore 1984, Boorstein and Ewald 1987, Dobson 1988, Brodeur and McNeil 1990, Moore and Gotelli 1990, Holmes and Zohar 1990, Keymer and Read 1991, Michalakis et al 1992, Horton and Moore 1993, Poulin et al 1994. In most of these examples, the altered behavior was assumed to benefit the parasites (see Moore andGotteli 1990 andHorton andMoore 1993 for alternative scenarios).…”

Section: Parasitism and Host Plant Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

Tachinid Parasitoids Affect Host Plant Choice by Caterpillars to Increase Caterpillar Survival

Karban

English-Loeb

1997

Ecology

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Current models of parasite-host interactions generally emphasize considerations of parasite virulence and parasite transmission rather than host responses to attack. We describe a situation in which parasitism causes a host to change its feeding behavior and this change improves the expected fitness of the host and probably the fitness of its parasites. We have found that a tachinid parasitoid (Thelaira americana) often emerges from its caterpillar host (Platyprepia virginalis) without killing the host. Whether the host caterpillar survives its parasites depends in part on what it has been eating. Unparasitized caterpillars were more likely to survive to adulthood when feeding on lupine, whereas parasitized caterpillars were more likely to survive on poison hemlock. Development time and pupal masses of caterpillars (both parasitized and unparasitized) were not found to be affected by the host plants that they fed on. Survival of fly larvae in caterpillars that we determined were parasitized using ultrasound was not affected by host plant. However, fly pupae that emerged from caterpillars that had been reared on hemlock were heavier than those emerging from lupine-fed caterpillars. This was due primarily to the direct effect of diet on the flies and less so to the indirect benefit to flies whose host caterpillars survived their parasites by feeding on hemlock.Parasitized caterpillars were more likely to select hemlock, and unparasitized caterpillars were more likely to select lupine when offered both host plants in field tests. These results were consistent for the two years that the choice experiments were conducted. These results were also consistent with the hypothesis that caterpillars change their food plant choices so as to increase their conditional success.Conditional food choices that increase success depending upon parasite load are well accepted for humans, controversial for other primates, and unknown for insects. If caterpillars alter their host plant choices as a result of their parasite load, then this phenomenon could help to explain the evolution of host plant choices that have defied explanation in the past. Such a suggestion assumes that nonlethal parasitism is a common phenomenon. We believe that this may be the case since we did not detect the nonlethal nature of this interaction until we began the unconventional practice of rearing in the field. Other workers have described nonlethal parasitism for several tachinid-host systems, and many families of flies are similar to tachinids except that their hosts are vertebrates; these interactions are nonlethal. Future empirical work, as well as models of parasite-host interactions, should consider the possibility that hosts alter their plant choices depending upon their parasite loads.

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Section: Parasitism and Host Plant Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

Tachinid Parasitoids Affect Host Plant Choice by Caterpillars to Increase Caterpillar Survival

Karban

English-Loeb

1997

Ecology

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“…1). The ability of parasites to alter the behavior of their hosts is now well accepted (, Stamp 1981, , Boorstein and Ewald 1987, Dobson 1988, Brodeur and McNeil 1990, , , , , Horton and Moore 1993, Poulin et al 1994). In most of these examples, the altered behavior was assumed to benefit the parasites (see and Horton and Moore 1993 for alternative scenarios).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tachinid Parasitoids Affect Host Plant Choice by Caterpillars to Increase Caterpillar Survival

Karban

English-Loeb

1997

Ecology

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Current models of parasite–host interactions generally emphasize considerations of parasite virulence and parasite transmission rather than host responses to attack. We describe a situation in which parasitism causes a host to change its feeding behavior and this change improves the expected fitness of the host and probably the fitness of its parasites. We have found that a tachinid parasitoid (Thelaira americana) often emerges from its caterpillar host (Platyprepia virginalis) without killing the host. Whether the host caterpillar survives its parasites depends in part on what it has been eating. Unparasitized caterpillars were more likely to survive to adulthood when feeding on lupine, whereas parasitized caterpillars were more likely to survive on poison hemlock. Development time and pupal masses of caterpillars (both parasitized and unparasitized) were not found to be affected by the host plants that they fed on. Survival of fly larvae in caterpillars that we determined were parasitized using ultrasound was not affected by host plant. However, fly pupae that emerged from caterpillars that had been reared on hemlock were heavier than those emerging from lupine‐fed caterpillars. This was due primarily to the direct effect of diet on the flies and less so to the indirect benefit to flies whose host caterpillars survived their parasites by feeding on hemlock. Parasitized caterpillars were more likely to select hemlock, and unparasitized caterpillars were more likely to select lupine when offered both host plants in field tests. These results were consistent for the two years that the choice experiments were conducted. These results were also consistent with the hypothesis that caterpillars change their food plant choices so as to increase their conditional success. Conditional food choices that increase success depending upon parasite load are well accepted for humans, controversial for other primates, and unknown for insects. If caterpillars alter their host plant choices as a result of their parasite load, then this phenomenon could help to explain the evolution of host plant choices that have defied explanation in the past. Such a suggestion assumes that nonlethal parasitism is a common phenomenon. We believe that this may be the case since we did not detect the nonlethal nature of this interaction until we began the unconventional practice of rearing in the field. Other workers have described nonlethal parasitism for several tachinid–host systems, and many families of flies are similar to tachinids except that their hosts are vertebrates; these interactions are nonlethal. Future empirical work, as well as models of parasite–host interactions, should consider the possibility that hosts alter their plant choices depending upon their parasite loads.

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“…In this state, it remains completely defenceless as the mummy is easily torn apart by the mandibles of invertebrate predators or pierced by the ovipositor of hyperparasitoid females. It has been shown that in order to enhance their survival, parasitoids have the ability to modify the behaviour of M. euphorbiae, and that the induced behaviour differs according to the physiological state of the parasitoid (Brodeur and McNeil, 1989;Brodeur and McNeil, 1990). Just prior to death, aphids containing a non-diapausing parasitoid leave the aphid colony and mummify on the upper surface of the leaves (i.e.…”

Section: (Table1)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and evolution of bodyguard manipulation

Maure

Daoust

Brodeur

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SummaryAmong the different strategies used by parasites to usurp the behaviour of their host, one of the most fascinating is bodyguard manipulation. While all classic examples of bodyguard manipulation involve insect parasitoids, induced protective behaviours have also evolved in other parasite-host systems, typically as specific dimensions of the total manipulation. For instance, parasites may manipulate the host to reduce host mortality during their development or to avoid predation by non-host predators. This type of host manipulation behaviour is rarely described, probably due to the fact that studies have mainly focused on predation enhancement rather than studying all the dimensions of the manipulation. Here, in addition to the classic cases of bodyguard manipulation, we also review these ʻbodyguard dimensionsʼ and propose extending the current definition of bodyguard manipulation to include the latter. We also discuss different evolutionary scenarios under which such manipulations could have evolved.

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Overwintering microhabitat selection by an Endoparasitoid (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae): Induced phototactic and thigmokinetic responses in dying hosts

Cited by 28 publications

References 32 publications

Tachinid Parasitoids Affect Host Plant Choice by Caterpillars to Increase Caterpillar Survival

Tachinid Parasitoids Affect Host Plant Choice by Caterpillars to Increase Caterpillar Survival

Tachinid Parasitoids Affect Host Plant Choice by Caterpillars to Increase Caterpillar Survival

Diversity and evolution of bodyguard manipulation

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